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In Memory

In memory of our friend and colleague Amy Branch

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Female fans normally know more facts about what’s going on than men do anyway. I’d say they’re a more intelligent fan on top of that. They normally know more about what we’ve done than we know about what we’ve done. --- Tony Stewart

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There are female fans who take apart engines and will take you apart if you have a problem with that; who are drawn to the danger and mystery of the sport; who watch races on TV to witness pure passion and unscripted emotion; who love the camaraderie of these family-friendly festivals; who feel the nervous anxiety of the lip-biting wives atop the pit boxes. --- Andrew Giangola “The Weekend Starts on Wednesday”

The trio of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers gave Miles the Monster a double whooping in today’s Nationwide race, starting and ending the event in the top five. The storm clouds from the night before lifted, allowing the 5-hour ENERGY 200 to run under sunny, breezy conditions.

In a dominant run, Joey Logano led 154 of 200 laps and took home the monster statue. The victory is Joey Logano’s fourth Nationwide win this season and his first win at Dover. After losing track position on the final caution, Logano picked off those spots one by one. With five laps to go, he passed teammate Ryan Truex for the lead and took the checkered flag.

Logano’s post-race thoughts: “My guys gave me one heck of a Dollar General Toyota to be able to lead all those laps, go to the back, pass the cars and go back and take the lead in this thing and win the race. That was a very impressive car.”

Logano standing on his car in Victory Lane
Photo by Beth Bence Reinke

After starting from the pole, Ryan Truex lost the lead to Logano on the first lap, but he stayed in the top six all race long. Truex led at the end and appeared to be about to win in his first Nationwide start until getting into some lapped traffic and got a little loose, which allowed Logano to catch and pass him. Ryan was understandably frustrated after the race. “I’m not happy. It’s second and I should be happy with it, but we had a winning car…” he said.

Caution report:

Caution 1: Tim Andrews (No. 08) has a tire go down and gets into the wall in turn 3.